Kicking Butts

More than 5 million children alive today will die prematurely from smoking-related illnesses.

On Wednesday, March 25th kids  around America will celebrate the fourteenth annual Kick Butts Day, a holiday not created to incite mass bullying but to get the word out about the risks of smoking tobacco.  Health organizations, anti-tobacco groups, and children’s advocacy non-profits are teaming up with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids at schools around the country to talk to kids about smoking in some pretty interesting ways.  At Herricks High School in New Hyde Park, NY is opening up a graffiti wall and in Demopolis, AL Demopolis High is asking kids to bring in old shoes to represent the number of deaths from tobacco related illness each year.

Along with the more creative educational programs a number of political rallies and letter writing drives are planed for the day.  One push urges the Congress in DC to grant greater authority to the FDA to regulate the tobacco industry.  A recent CDC study showed that tobacco marketing continues to influence young people’s views on smoking and improved FDA involvement could mean stronger limits on print and point of sale advertising.  Meanwhile, the South Carolina Tobacco Collaborative is planning to gather outside the state house to lobby for higher taxes on tobacco.  The state has not seen a raise on tobacco taxes since 1977.  The current rate at 7 cents a pack is lowest in the nation and compares to a national average of over a dollar per pack.

Regardless of the outcomes in the Palmetto State cigarette taxes will be climbing on the national level and soon.  Under a Obama backed bill that passed through Congress earlier this year federal cigarette taxes will rise from 39 cents up to $1.01 per pack on April 1st.  Not surprisingly, the plan has met with harsh critiques from conservative and libertarian think tanks such as The Tax Foundation.

At this point in my rant you may be scratching your head.  I’m sure one or two of you is wondering what all this has to do with Children anyway.  Well, it all comes back around.  First off, the research shows that tax increases reduce teen smoking.  And with around three million minors lighting up there is a lot of work that needs to be done on that issue.

Second,  The Federal cigarette tax increase is part of the Obama Administration’s plan to expand SCHIP (the State Children’s Health Insurance Program) which gives matching funds to state level programs that give medical insurance to children in low income families who don’t qualify for medicaid.  The plan is touted to increase health care access to an additional four million children which falls far short of full coverage for America’s kids but as I see it at least it’s short step in the right direction.

ADHD, the Media, and Growing Up

Researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, MD recently found that boys diagnosed with ADHD scored lower on motor coordination tests than their female counter parts or control groups. The study, published in Neurology, tested skills like tapping feet to a rhythm and balancing in young people between 7 and 15 years old. The results now have researchers wondering why boys with ADHD seem so much more delayed.

The Elephant in the Room: Children and Weight

By 2010, almost half of North and South America’s children will be over weight. In the rest of the world the numbers aren’t much better.  In Europe the rate of overweight children will reach 38% and even in China levels are expected to reach one in five, a totally unacceptable figure in and of itself.  In the last thirty years the childhood obesity rates have more than doubled for very young children and teens, while it has more than tripled for elementary aged children.   Clearly this is a problem.  It goes with out saying that weight issues in childhood can lead to a number of health problems such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes.  Some of the factors contributing to this epidemic are overtly apparent to anyone paying attention, nevertheless in this article I’d like to talk a bit about the basic causes and then look deeper for some more elusive causes.

Growing Concerns about ADHD

Does this child have ADHD?

In the U.S. today an estimated 25 million people may have Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD.  The now household term brings up images of loud uncontrollable children who struggle to learn and who lack the ability to sit still.  In this article I’d like to talk a little bit about what ADHD is, what it is not, and what every parent, teacher, and physician should know about it.